Today indie-pop singer Natalie Shay has returned with a new single and lyric video for “The Edge.” The song is about a painful situation between herself and her friendship with her best friend dissolving quickly. Shay mentioned, “This is one of my favorite songs I’ve ever released, and as the feelings are still very raw, I’m hoping to find closure in this.” If you’re ready to cry along with Natalie Shay, you’ve come to the right place. I was also able to catch up with Natalie for a brief interview below.
Your new single “The Edge” speaks on the turbulent end of a meaningful relationship – was writing about this experience and being so openly vulnerable difficult for you in any way?
I think the release of the song is more difficult in terms of vulnerability than the writing. Writing is my therapy, if I can get an emotion or feeling represented perfectly by a song, it helps me process and attempt to move on. However this is the first song I have released whilst I am still in the middle of the emotion / event that it’s about. It’s quite a different feeling. A lot of people will know the friendship that the song is about, I guess part of me is excited for those people to hear the song in context. And for anyone new, I hope the lyrics can be relatable and get someone else through a similar experience. Friend breakups are so common, and can often hurt as much if not more than a romantic break up.
Sonically, where do you derive inspiration from? How would you best describe your sound for people who are just being introduced to you?
Indie pop! But stemming from a traditional singer / songwriter base. I’m super into indie pop and 80s inspired indie pop production and guitars. So, I guess my sound is essentially acoustic guitar written songs produced up in a fresh indie pop style designed to be played live with enough ear candy to keep you interested for the full 3-4 minutes (hopefully).
How would you say “The Edge” and B-side “Everything’s Been Happening” play off of each other? How do they collectively relate to your previous releases and hint at what is to come?
Both songs are about the same event. Written around the same time. “The Edge” is about the raw emotion, and the B-side came slightly after the anger and pain had dimmed. It’s a reflective track about the attempt at understanding the route of the breakdown and how the events affected my life in the months following it. I see this release as a pretty standalone piece, but directionally progressive.
Do you have any other release plans for this year? What can you tell me about that?
Definitely! I may have the next release already planned. But I want to take this year one theme at a time. I’ve also started working on my next EP!